Participants:
| Scene Title | Striking Out |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Sky goes to deal with Warren after her debacle at Redbird Security. She brings a Louisville Slugger. They don't play baseball. |
| Date | Dember 11 2010 |
It's around 5PM when Skyler arrives into Warren's office, more than enough security for him to know she's entered the building. The door opens with turning gears and closes behind her on its own, but he has his head laying in his folded arms. Yeah, he's not in the best of moods.
Skyler seems jaunty enough as she walks into Warren's office. The baseball cap is back on her head, and hey, even a Louisville Slugger slung casually over one shoulder. Sneakers, check. Maybe she's planning to go to a ball game after work. She sure has been busy enough in her office. Why, so busy she's been moving stuff to and from a car with a dolly. Well, one trip, really, and when the admin asked her about it, she mumbled something about rearranging some things. But now here she is. She wanders up to the desk and taps on it lightly with the bat. "Hey Boss. I have a few questions about this job you sent me on."
Warren sits up, running silvery fingers through his hair with that new hand of his. She can't see the mechanical parts, but there's an impressive bit of silver latex-like material that looks a lot like a hand, except with no human features such as nails. "Oh, sorry. What do you need to know?"
Skyler eyes the hand a moment. "You've had a busy few days yourself, looks like." She says evenly, just before she brings the bat down quite hard on the desk for emphasis. It makes a very solid *whack* sound. "What I want to know is why the fuck you didn't tell me you knew these people, and that Redbird has a technopath of their own guarding the place? You threw me to the wolves, Warren. You knew Alia. If she'd been any other technopath, I could be in prison or dead right now. I still might wind up that way. I want to know why you failed to mention those little details."
"Wait, hold on." Warren holds both hands up, remaining patient even while obviously exhausted. "I didn't think it was vitally important if you knew that I knew them, I don't know a thing about hacking or computers. As for the technopath, I actually didn't know she was working for Redbird. I knew she was associated with Cardinal, but this is news to me too. I promise, if I reasonably thought she actually worked for him, I'd have told you."
Skyler points the bat at Warren, which is probably one of the less threatening things she could do with it. Bat. Weapon. Against a mechanopath. It seemed like a reasonable choice. "Yeah? Well she jacked me up right off. I figured I was being clever and sneaky sussing out their technopath, and she came out and jacked me up with a sword, Warren. But it's worse than that. Not only has she probably figured out I work for you, she found out some things from my past that needed to stay buried. Yeah, she works for them. Runs a tight little non-networked supercomputer in the basement that's crypto'd up the butt too, so I got exactly nowhere with it. Why the hell did you send me poking after people you've worked with?"
"Because they don't trust me, I need to know that they're not going to stab me in the back, that they actually consider me their allies. Whatever she knows, I'm sure she's not going to spread it, and I'll be more careful the next time I have you do something. It shouldn't be of any consequence that they find out you work for me, they're not our enemies, there's just a few trust issues." Warren stands, walking around the desk to grip the bat with his silvery hand, releasing a patient sigh. "One of my friends were killed, I don't think I'm in the proper mindset for business tonight."
Skyler sighs, and lets the bat sag to the floor. "What happened? And what happened to your hand, while we're playing twenty questions." She taps at the toe of her sneaker as she asks that, watching her boss. Realizing that despite her rant to Alia yesterday, she knows practically nothing about Warren either.
"I'm not sure exactly, I just know someone murdered her. She was the last person on Earth who deserved that, she didn't hurt anyone, she was just a nice woman who liked to bake and take care of her son." Warren brushes some of the blueprints and gadgets away on his desk, sliding back to sit on it while his feet dangle about an inch or so off the floor. "My hand, a crazy cop blew it off with a grenade, at least that's what I'm told, I can't remember. This is the newest upgrade." He holds up the hand, wiggling the fingers as if he were simply wearing a silvery latex glove. "It's far ahead anything available to the public, I could have feeling in it if I wanted, but I chose not to."
You say, "Hurts less when you punch something solid with it." Sky says automatically. She doesn't add 'like my head' even though she thinks it. "Who was she? Was she involved with one of the factions around here?" Skyler sighs. She came in here to quit, with or without bashing Warren's head in first. Instead he's got her all sympathetic. "What was the cause of death?"
"No one would let me in or tell me anything, so I'm in the dark. She wasn't involved with any of that, but her brother was a Moab escapee. God, I don't know what or why or happened… I just don't want to think about it right now." Warren's fingers rapidly tap the desk, trying to figure out the next topic to address. "In a few days, can you help me with something? I built the most advanced computer brain on the planet, and it's completely empty of programming. I'm not sure what it's capable of, and one is already being used in that robot. I want you to take a look at it when it's prepared."
Skyler sighs, closing her eyes. She taps her palm with the bat. Most advanced computer brain on the planet. Verses embracing job insecurity and being unemployed again, with matters White Rabbit starting to percolate back into the current world. Does she embrace change (again) or constrain some variables, and get to muck around with a first generation product that nobody else, not even Alia, has ever seen before? A smile curls her lips a little. "Most advanced computer brain on the planet, huh?" She weighs the options a little more. "You're talking dirty to me and you don't even realize it. When do I start with it?" Ehhh, she can always quit another time.
"In a few days, I'll let you know. I have to prepare a few things." Warren grins, placing his palms flat against the desk as he watches her. "I'm trying to be good lately, I'll try not to talk dirty. But currently you're my head of computer engineering, so… Some things can't be helped."
Skyler nods. "I'll try and meet with this Cardinal guy and/or hang out with Alia and find out where he stands on you. Kind of an obvious double-agent where that's concerned. And just for the record, I'm a hardware girl too. When you want to build the new most advanced computer brain on the planet, or maybe just a hand with nerves, let me know and we can work on it together." She sobers a little. "Sorry about your friend though. I can poke around, see what I can dig up on her if you want. The cops may be closed mouthed about it, but ve have vays of makink them talk just the same.
"She goes by Marjorie Mihangle, it's probably her real name, but I didn't do the most indepth background check, I only needed a piano teacher when I met her. I'd rather you not hang out with Cardinal, I don't want to lose an asset like you, and I need to know that I can trust you. This isn't a matter of me not trusting you, of course, it's just a matter of me not underestimating Cardinal." Warren slides from the desk and stands, starting to walk to the door as it opens for him. "Alia though, I'd approve of hanging out with her." There's a slight pause as he walks into the hall, looking back at her. "I think I'm done working for the night. There any chance you want company?"
Skyler bites her lip. "Um." She shakes her head. "I came in here ready to bash your head in and quit, in whichever order seemed the most satisfying. It'd probably be better if I untangled my head a bit. Visit my boyfriend. Stuff like that. Sorry." she says, gently. "Maybe your brother is around?"
Warren raises an eyebrow. "I don't have a brother. I think I'll just go work on something tonight." Even though he just said he was done working, he's almost immediately dragging his feet down the hall and to the elevators. "Have a nice night."
Skyler cocks her head. "Then who's Edward Ray?" she asks as Warren goes.
"My father." Warren doesn't look back or say anything else, he just keeps walking.
Skyler 's brow furrows, and she looks puzzled, but lets the boss go. Not that Warren's not attractive, but she is kind of seeing Evan, and things are complicated enough without having a personal relationship with her boss.